Washington calls on the UN to tighten sanctions on the parties to the conflict in Sudan

The United States is calling for stricter United Nations sanctions on the parties to the conflict in Sudan, aiming to increase pressure on them to negotiate an end to the fighting that has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced around 13 million, and pushed large parts of the African country toward famine.

Mas’ad Pauls, senior advisor to President Donald Trump for Arab and African affairs, told the UN Security Council on Monday that financial, military, and political support provided either to the government forces or to the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group remains a key driver of the conflict, now in its fourth year.

He said the Security Council has the tools needed to curb the “huge and growing amount of military support” being provided to both sides of the conflict by “numerous external actors.”

UN-backed human rights investigators called two years ago for expanding the arms embargo imposed on the long-troubled Darfur region in western Sudan, which witnessed mass atrocities between 2003 and 2005, to cover the entire country.

Pauls said a proposed US draft resolution before the UN Security Council would expand the arms embargo to cover all of Sudan. The embargo would also apply “to all parties operating on Sudanese territory,” and would reaffirm that drones and related technologies fall under the arms ban.